James Farmer

Recent Articles

”The Master’s tools will never dismantle the Master’s house,” advises feminist Audre Lorde in her famous essay. I was doing some research for an upcoming show that will help us examine the impact of racism on our mental health, and I came across a powerful video of a James Farmer interview with Betty Shabazz after the assassination of her husband, Malcolm X.

After watching her, I was left with the thought that in the aftermath of violence we are left to try to raise our babies anyway. I thought about it a few more days, and this occurred to me: When we look at the statistics for the numbers of Black men in prison, we aren’t talking about some generic men we are unfamiliar with. No, those men are our brothers, husbands, cousins, uncles, nephews and fathers — urban men. Ray’jon Gomez, 13; Quantell Braxton, 14; Jason Osburn, 16 — victims of homicide, urban babies, our babies. Continue Reading →